India and China are locked in a war of words after a months-long period of calm in their relationship over the alleged harassment of a woman from India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh by Chinese authorities.

China claims the territory of Arunachal Pradesh and calls the region southern Tibet, or Zangnan.

Here is what happened, what the tensions over Arunachal Pradesh are about and why the new tensions between the world’s two most populous nations are significant.

What happened?

Prema Wangjom Thongdok was travelling on her Indian passport from the United Kingdom, where she lives, to Japan on Friday. She stopped at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China for what was supposed to be a three-hour layover.

Thongdok alleged that Shanghai airport authorities instead detained and h

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